Seeing as this is my first post here, I thought I'd share something that I made a couple months back. Before I get to it, I want to give full credit to the guys at Bacon Today who invented the concept - I can't post the link, but you can google turbaconducken and you'll find them.
I slimmed down their vision to using just the breast of the turkey, chicken and duck.
Here's what the final product looked like, once cut into:
What you need:
1 Chicken Breast (skin and bone removed)
1 Turkey Breast (skin and bone removed)
2 Duck Breasts (skin and bone removed - I bought a whole duck then cut them off - came in handy because I then used the legs to help flavour the juice for the gravy as well)
2 lbs of bacon.
2 onions
One carrot
2 pcs of celery
3 bay leaves
5 or 6 whole black peppercorns
Flour
I cooked one pound of bacon to about 30% done - just to get some fat out of the bacon to be used for the roux - which will thicken the gravy later) So be sure to save the bacon fat.
Butterfly the chicken breast - put in a couple strips of the par-cooked bacon. Close it back over and wrap it with strips of the par cooked bacon.
Place 1 duck breast on top of the bacon wrapped chicken, and one duck breast under the bacon wrapped chicken. Then wrap that whole thing in bacon - this should use up all the par cooked bacon.
Butterfly the turkey breast, then insert the bacon wrapped duck and chicken. Then close the turkey breast back over the rest of the meat. Beside that lay out three strips of bacon - not cooked. The bacon strips should be going away from you. Then lay strips perpendicularly along the 3 strips, starting each strip in the middle of the three strips you'd laid down and going out to the right. Then do the same thing, but going out to the left. You can kind of see it here:
but you can't really see the three strips under the rest of the bacon. Once you're done that, put the turkey and everything else in the middle of the bacon you have laid out. Fold the bacon over top and put three more strips on the top, going away from you, like this:
Tie it up:
Mine was tied three times and that seemed to work out.
Put it in the pot. Cut up the onion, carrot and celery into about 1 inch pieces. Place these around the turbaconducken in the pot. Put in 3 bay leaves and the peppercorns. (If you end up buying a whole duck, you can cut the legs off and put them in the pot as well to help flavour the juice. You can eat them too, but I threw them out - just used them for flavouring the juice I used for the gravy.)Add water to the pot - about 2 or 3 inches - up to about a third of the way on the turbaconducken. Cook, uncovered, at 350 until the internal temp is about 155 degrees - mine took 2 1/2 hours.
While it's in the oven, you need to make the roux for thickening the gravy later. Take the pan with your bacon fat in it. Heat it up again. Add flour - enough so that the consistency looks like moist brown sugar. If you go a bit firmer that is fine. Keep the heat on about med-high and keep stirring with a spoon for about 5 minutes. You should get a nutty, almost popcorn smell from it. That is how you know it's done. Turn it off and let it cool.
Once the turbaconducken is done, take it out and cover it with tin foil on a cutting board.
Strain the juice in a fine sieve so you only get the juice out. The rest goes in the garbage - onions, celery etc. Put the juice on the stove and bring to a boil. Add a little bit of the roux you've made and bring to a boil then simmer. Stir with a whisk until you like the consistency. Add little bits of the roux at a time until it's thick as you want it. Always bring it back to a boil after adding the roux because it needs that temp to activate. You can bring it back to a simmer after that. Keep repeating and whisking until you have what you want. I added some more stuff to my gravy - smoked paprika, chipotle pepper powder, ground thyme and sage, lemon pepper. Just be careful to not add too much - maybe a 1/4 teaspoon of each. You don't want to be overwhelmed by the taste of the spices you add, they are there for background flavour. If it's been 15 minutes or so and your gravy is done, you're good to cut the trubaconducken up!
I slimmed down their vision to using just the breast of the turkey, chicken and duck.
Here's what the final product looked like, once cut into:
What you need:
1 Chicken Breast (skin and bone removed)
1 Turkey Breast (skin and bone removed)
2 Duck Breasts (skin and bone removed - I bought a whole duck then cut them off - came in handy because I then used the legs to help flavour the juice for the gravy as well)
2 lbs of bacon.
2 onions
One carrot
2 pcs of celery
3 bay leaves
5 or 6 whole black peppercorns
Flour
I cooked one pound of bacon to about 30% done - just to get some fat out of the bacon to be used for the roux - which will thicken the gravy later) So be sure to save the bacon fat.
Butterfly the chicken breast - put in a couple strips of the par-cooked bacon. Close it back over and wrap it with strips of the par cooked bacon.
Place 1 duck breast on top of the bacon wrapped chicken, and one duck breast under the bacon wrapped chicken. Then wrap that whole thing in bacon - this should use up all the par cooked bacon.
Butterfly the turkey breast, then insert the bacon wrapped duck and chicken. Then close the turkey breast back over the rest of the meat. Beside that lay out three strips of bacon - not cooked. The bacon strips should be going away from you. Then lay strips perpendicularly along the 3 strips, starting each strip in the middle of the three strips you'd laid down and going out to the right. Then do the same thing, but going out to the left. You can kind of see it here:
but you can't really see the three strips under the rest of the bacon. Once you're done that, put the turkey and everything else in the middle of the bacon you have laid out. Fold the bacon over top and put three more strips on the top, going away from you, like this:
Tie it up:
Mine was tied three times and that seemed to work out.
Put it in the pot. Cut up the onion, carrot and celery into about 1 inch pieces. Place these around the turbaconducken in the pot. Put in 3 bay leaves and the peppercorns. (If you end up buying a whole duck, you can cut the legs off and put them in the pot as well to help flavour the juice. You can eat them too, but I threw them out - just used them for flavouring the juice I used for the gravy.)Add water to the pot - about 2 or 3 inches - up to about a third of the way on the turbaconducken. Cook, uncovered, at 350 until the internal temp is about 155 degrees - mine took 2 1/2 hours.
While it's in the oven, you need to make the roux for thickening the gravy later. Take the pan with your bacon fat in it. Heat it up again. Add flour - enough so that the consistency looks like moist brown sugar. If you go a bit firmer that is fine. Keep the heat on about med-high and keep stirring with a spoon for about 5 minutes. You should get a nutty, almost popcorn smell from it. That is how you know it's done. Turn it off and let it cool.
Once the turbaconducken is done, take it out and cover it with tin foil on a cutting board.
Strain the juice in a fine sieve so you only get the juice out. The rest goes in the garbage - onions, celery etc. Put the juice on the stove and bring to a boil. Add a little bit of the roux you've made and bring to a boil then simmer. Stir with a whisk until you like the consistency. Add little bits of the roux at a time until it's thick as you want it. Always bring it back to a boil after adding the roux because it needs that temp to activate. You can bring it back to a simmer after that. Keep repeating and whisking until you have what you want. I added some more stuff to my gravy - smoked paprika, chipotle pepper powder, ground thyme and sage, lemon pepper. Just be careful to not add too much - maybe a 1/4 teaspoon of each. You don't want to be overwhelmed by the taste of the spices you add, they are there for background flavour. If it's been 15 minutes or so and your gravy is done, you're good to cut the trubaconducken up!
